"Burkina Faso security crisis grows as convoy ambush kills dozens"; 7 November 2019"

 Gunmen in Burkina Faso have killed nearly 40 civilians in an ambush on a convoy transporting workers for the Canadian goldminer Semafo, regional authorities have said. The attack on Wednesday underlines the growing instability in the Sahel, where Islamist extremist groups have grown in influence and power over the past decade.

Semafo said in an earlier statement that the attack on a convoy of five buses with a military escort took place on the road to its Boungou mine...and that there had been several deaths and injuries. Nineteen of the people killed were employees of an Australian company, Perenti Global Ltd, which had been contracted by Semafo. Perenti saidin a statement that another 20 employees had been injured...

In December, a police vehicle was attacked on the same road, resulting in five deaths. The latest attack is the deadliest in recent years as the military struggles to contain Islamist violence that has overrun parts of Burkina Faso.

After incidents last year, which Semafo said were the work of “armed bandits”, the company reinforced its escorts and decided to transport all expatriate employees by helicopter between the Boungou mine and Ouagadougou, the capital.